Identification, quantification and analysis of observable anthropogenic debris along swiss river and lakes (IQASL)¶
IQASL is a project sponosred by the Swiss Federal Office for the environment to quantify shoreline trash along swiss lakes and rivers in the Rhone, Aare, Ticino and Linth/Limmat catchment areas. This is accomplished by conducting multiple small scale and discrete litter surveys throughout the river bassin. The majority of samples are taken from lakes.
What is a litter survey?¶
A litter survey is the identification and count of all objects found within a delimited area bordered on one side by water. Each object is placed into one of 260 categories¹. The location, date, survey dimensions and the total number of objects in each category is noted.
The survey results are presented as a ratio of the number of objects found for each meter of shoreline surveyed. This allows us to compare surveys of different sizes.
Purpose of the surveys¶
The survey results help ALL stakeholders identify the items that make up the mass of trash found in the natural environment on the shores of Swiss lakes and rivers. The surveys answer the following questions:
- What items are found?
- How much is found ? (total weights and item counts)
- How often are these items found?
- Where do you find the most?
These are the most frequently asked questions and should be considered when determining any mitigation or reduction strategies.
The project is based on the following assumptions:
- The more trash there is on the ground the more a person is likely to find
- The survey results represent the minimum amount of trash at that site²
- For each survey: finding one item does not effect the chance of finding another³
Purpose of this report¶
Summarize the survey results for the municpaility and define the magnitude of those results with respect to other locations in the river bassin and the aggregated national results.
Contents of this report¶
- Description of river basin
- Survey dimensions, locations, aggreagted totals
- Trash removed: material type and usage
- Trash removed: combined top ten
- Trash removed the most often
- Annex: Survey location details, itemized list of objects removed
More information ¶
For more information about the project visit project home.
If you would like your municipality to be surveyed on a regular basis contact:
- Swiss federal office for the environment - Municipal waste section
- hammerdirt
¹ The EU guide on monitoring marine litter
² There is most likely more trash at the survey site, but certainly not less than what was recorded.
³ Independent observations : stats stackexchange
Material type and Utility: percent of total objects collected¶
Material type The material type is determined based on the classification in the the guide on monitoring marine litter.
Utility The utility type is based on the utilisation of the object prior to it being discarded. Objects are placed into to one of the 260 categories. Those categories are grouped according to utilisation.
For example, a piece of plastic would be placed into the category 'Fragmented plastics', depending on its size. However, a piece of plastic that was once a bucket and we know this because we are familiar with either the brand or the product, is placed in a code for buckets.
In the tables below each column is the results for that city/lake/river-bassin. The darker the color the more of a problem that group of objects is in relation to all other objects found at that city/lake/river bassin.
How often are these objects found?¶
More information¶
Contact hammerdirt.ch for any questions about the content of this report. If you would like a report for your municipality contact the Swiss federal office for the environment: Municipal waste section.